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For many years the clinical laboratories in hospitals have been subjected to regular inspection and subsequent certification by various accreditation agencies. Part of the requirement for this process is regular and continuing participation in proficiency surveys, with the most prominent being those provided by the College of American Pathologists. The Centers for Disease Control also sends out material to laboratories on a limited basis. The clinical laboratories are periodically inspected in substantial detail, and the survey results are scrutinized as part of the process.
The Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation, as part of its inspection of a hospital laboratory, requires its inspector to visit the laboratory and examine its activities and proficiency survey results. Those laboratories that are certified by certain organizations (College of American Pathologists, Department of Health and Human Services, American Association of Blood Banks) have little difficulty with the process.
Many states do not carry out formal